Fantastic 2/3rds of a film, skip the last 3rd

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2009)

I rate this film based on a weighted average of 9 out of 10 for the beginning up until the scene where the father is shot, and 1 out of 10 for the rest.
The 'infected' in this film changed my notion of what a zombie like creature could be. Unlike the stumbling, sleep walking, flesh-feaster's of Romero (although respectable in their own right) Ferocious, sprinting and scrambling, the infected chase their prey like a starving rabid dog chancing upon a chicken coup.
The scenes of desolation and emptiness around some famous landmarks at the beginning I found captivating & moody. I also got a kick out of the main protagonist finding money strewn all about the streets, collecting some in his bag as well as the free shop the group had in the supermarket.
As in many fine horror films, the horror of some scenes come from the mind of the viewer while a character describes an experience rather than us being shown it directly (e.g seven). I thought the scene with one of the male characters describing he and his families attempt to flee the city near the beginning of the outbreak to be hauntingly evocative.
I really liked the idea of instantaneous infection & transformation from Jekyll to Hyde. It avoided the well used plot device in zombie films of having a loved character accidentally bitten & infected, and the moral dilemma about whether to kill them now or wait to see if they turn. In this film the precious few seconds available between infection and morphing, gave rise to some of the most visceral and heart-racing scenes of the film for me.
Up until the father was unfortunate enough to take the wrong kind of eye drop, i found myself utterly engrossed in the story and wondering, really wondering where the solemn adventure would take the group.
Unfortunately from there the movie degenerated into a sick and disturbing action piece. Jim & the girls find the source of the radio broadcast offering an answer to infection, in the form of a bunch of army guys holing out in a well defended country house.
It seems all that is on the minds of these men & the reason for them broadcasting the signal for the uninfected from around the country to rendezvous near the house, keeping in mind their dwindling number of soldiers, their lack of food and the need to constantly monitor the area around the house from the constant threat of the zombies, well the only thing on their minds seems to be to find some women to rape! 28 days later from the collapse of society as they know it, instead of seeking out ways to contact the outside world for rescue, or worrying about starving to death,or being attacked by ravenous sub-humans, they are trying to trick some chicks into coming to their house so that they can have sex. Well, Jim does not want to play along with it like a good sport so the army dudes dump him outside the confines of the house leaving him a prey for the infected. Luckily for Jim and the girls though, before he slipped into his coma, this bicycle courier had watched the movies commando and die hard at least twice, drawing on that knowledge and with the help of an infected he just about single handedly, unarmed, kills all of the trained army men and manages to escape with his friends to a beautiful spot in the country where they apparently live in peace until a plane flies overhead signaling their rescue.
Needless to say, the beginning and middle of the film had me glued to the screen and the only reason I sat though the disturbing last part must have been I was glued to my chair.